Sims gave an account (op. cit., pp.108–9) of the early stages of this work, the first layers of colour being brushed on in January 1908. At least six preliminary designs were made before the present composition was settled, and the original idea of a group on a terrace waving to horsemen riding off in the early morning was gradually subordinated to the bathing figures composed around the base of a fountain.

Published in:Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, London 1964, II